The Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Gloucestershire County Council was scheduled to discuss the draft 2026/27 budget, which outlines the council's proposed financial plans for the next four years. The committee was also set to review directorate plans for Adult Social Care and Communities, Children and Families, Public Health and Communities, Economy, Environment and Infrastructure, Community Safety, Corporate Resources, and Technical & Countywide services, examining how these align with the council's strategic priorities.

Scrutiny of the Draft 2026/27 Budget

The primary focus of the meeting was the scrutiny of the draft 2026/27 budget, detailed in the Consultation Document Dec25.pdf and the Budget Consultation 2026-27_Dev4.pdf. This document outlines the council's proposed financial plans for the next four years, driven by the priorities set out in the Council Strategy 2025–2029: A stronger future, built together.

The report pack indicated that sessions would be held with Cabinet Members and Directors for each scrutiny committee to discuss the draft budget. Members of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee were expected to attend these sessions to identify recurring themes and trends that would inform their report to Cabinet. Councillors were advised to consider how effectively the proposed budget responds to:

• The changing needs of Gloucestershire residents and communities.
• The priorities and ambitions set out within the Council Strategy.
• Any legislative or other changes in national policy or guidance.

The draft budget proposes a total revenue budget of £697.5 million for 2026/27, representing a net increase of £32.4 million from 2025/26. This includes £54.1 million of investment in services, offset by £20.9 million of budget reductions, removal of one-off budget adjustments from 2025/26, additional income, savings, and efficiencies, and a net £0.8 million use of reserves. The budget is funded through a combination of Settlement Funding Assessment (£223.0 million), Public Health Grant (£28.8 million), Inshore Fisheries (£0.1 million), Children's Social Care Prevention Grant (£1.6 million), Collection Fund Surplus (£2.8 million), and Council Tax (£441.1 million).

The report pack detailed proposed investments and savings across various directorates:

Adult Social Care and Communities

The draft budget for Adults services in 2026/27 is £243.1 million, an increase of 8.31% from the previous year. This includes investments of £20.7 million in areas such as bed-based and community-based inflationary pressures, in-house services demographic growth, and older people demographic growth. Efficiencies and additional income totalling £4.46 million are also proposed, including a 3% uplift to fees and charges. A £0.5 million use of reserves is planned, partly to fund the Virtual Social Care Academy.

Children and Families

The budget for Vulnerable Children is £154.7 million, an increase of 2.13%, with investments including £5.5 million for high-cost packages for children and young people with disabilities and £1.8 million for pay inflation in fostering and adoption allowances. Efficiencies of £5.3 million are proposed, including reductions in agency staff costs and savings from the Sufficiency Strategy. Other Children's Services are budgeted at £46.9 million, an increase of 9.72%, with investments in SEND services and home-to-school transport.

Economy, Environment and Infrastructure

This directorate's budget is £95.9 million, an increase of 9.07%. Key investments include £7.4 million for highways and transport transformation programmes, £5.1 million for specialist IT software and hardware for highways design, and £1 million for Ash Die Back tree removal. Significant savings of £6.2 million are proposed, including £4.3 million from the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging waste and £0.45 million from increased streetworks permit charges.

Community Safety

The budget for Community Safety is £29.0 million, an increase of 6.11%. This includes investments of £1.4 million, such as additional operational day crewing at a fire station in the Forest of Dean and funding for the Coroner's Service. Efficiencies of £0.28 million are proposed, including savings from reviewing the fire service delivery model.

Public Health and Communities

The budget for Public Health and Communities is £39.6 million, an increase of 1.77%. This includes investments of £0.76 million, such as funding for the new community prevention grant scheme and increased costs for domestic abuse services. Efficiencies of £0.58 million are proposed through reviewing grants and maximising their use.

Corporate Resources

The budget for Corporate Resources is £54.9 million, an increase of 9.53%. This includes investments of £3.0 million, such as £1.0 million for the Education System Transformation programme and £0.2 million for cyber security. Efficiencies of £0.93 million are proposed, including £0.5 million from optimising income opportunities and £0.15 million from reducing external legal advice costs.

Technical & Countywide

The budget for Technical & Countywide services is £33.3 million, a decrease of 21.22%. This reflects significant efficiencies of £9.7 million, including £7.5 million from LGPS contributions and £1.4 million from the implementation of full cost recovery for corporate overheads on grants. Investments of £5.0 million are planned, including £1.0 million for data and intelligence strategy and £0.5 million for transformation resources.

The report pack also included Directorate Plans for each service area, providing more detail on annual activities and future ambitions. The Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee was expected to feed back its views to the Cabinet prior to the final budget being proposed.

The meeting was scheduled to include breaks and a lunch break. The membership of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee was listed, with Councillor Gary Luff as Chair and Councillor Ian Watson as Vice-Chair.